NEWS: Xbox One vs. PS4 vs. PC: How the hardware specs compare

So after the unveiling of the Xbox One we can begin to compare it with its competition. While the name took most people by surprise , the Xbox One’s hardware spec is almost exactly as anticipated. This means we can now say with some confidence that the Xbox One and PS4 will have very similar hardware specs, and thus very similar performance and game visuals. For a detailed breakdown of how the Xbox One compares against the PS4 and PC, read on.

What we know now is that the Xbox One has an 8-core AMD CPU with 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500GB hard drive, HDMI in/out, USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet. For more detailed specs, we have to look towards the latest info from the games development sector, which has been programming Xbox One games since last year. The latest leaks suggest that the Xbox One will have an 8-core 64-bit x86 Jaguar AMD CPU @ 1.6GHz, coupled with a GPU that’s very close to the Radeon HD 7790.

The PS4, in comparison, has an 8-core Jaguar AMD CPU, with a GPU that’s around the same level as the Radeon 7870. Unlike the Xbox One, the PS4 has 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, which is much faster — but the Xbox One mostly ameliorates this difference with 32MB of high-speed SRAM on the GPU. In both consoles, the CPU and GPU will be on the same die (an AMD APU). Just as the PS4 has 8GB of high-speed memory that is shared by the CPU and GPU, the Xbox One – by virtue of being based on the same APU heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) — will probably be the same. In short, while there are small hardware differences between the consoles, they will ultimately have very similar performance characteristics. The PS4, with its one, big block of fast RAM, and bigger GPU, probably has the edge.

It’s a little bit harder to compare the Xbox One’s Kinect 2.0 with the PlayStation 4 Eye. From what we know so far, the Xbox One sounds like it has the edge on movement tracking and gesture controls. We should know more at E3, when Sony finally reveals a few more details about the PlayStation 4 Eye.

In comparison to a modern PC, you can probably guess how the Xbox One compares. There’s no direct comparison for the 8-core Jaguar CPU — AMD’s own parts based on the Jaguar core, Kabini and Temash, are quad-core parts destined for ultrathins and tablets. From leaked benchmarks, the Jaguar core is around 10% faster than its predecessor (Bobcat). A dual-core Brazos (Bobcat core) about 10 times slower than the latest Ivy Bridge parts, in a very naive comparison. So, all in all, an 8-core Jaguar might manage about half the performance of a current-gen Core i7. The GPU comparison is easier: The Radeon 7790 is a $150 card.

In short, then, today’s PCs will stomp all over the Xbox One (and PS4) in terms of raw computation power.